English 1010, 1110, 1020 and above James Maxfield, Instructor Suggested Procedure and Tips for Research Paper Writing Use the following tips for researching, writing, and revising your final research paper for this course. Before beginning your research paper, review Ch. 6 on "Writing Arguments" p. 147-166 in your Handbook for Writers (Troyka and Hesse); also review the section on avoiding logical fallacies in your writing (p. 142-46). Researching— (Read and review Ch. 31, p. 484-506; Ch. 32, p. 507-37; and Ch. 33, p. 538-62) At the start, you probably will not have a clear idea of your thesis, even if you know your topic. So at this point, your research will be general—you are looking for a line of inquiry that sparks your interest, but at the same time you are accumulating the necessary background information about your topic. Find books, journal articles, and other secondary source materials that pertain to your topic of interest. If you are researching a specific author or a poem, story, or novel, then look in the index of critical books (literary criticism) about that author to find references to the works you are researching. Mark or write down the pages that you think might be useful for your paper, then copy those pages or chapters. Be sure also to copy the title page of the book, journal, or magazine as well as the publishing information. You will need this info. for your MLA bibliography (Works Cited). (Refer to Ch. 34, p. 563-621.) While you read the copied material, underline and highlight important sections and ideas and make notes in the margins how you could use this passage or information in your paper. For instance: Background info., facts, claims, quotations, examples, contrary opinions to refute, etc. Make a list of important points that you want to either paraphrase or use as quotations in your paper. Type each passage or quotation into a computer word file listing each source, the exact quotation of the text material, and the page number. (If you have many quotations from one book, you might want to make a separate file just for that source.) This method will allow you to cut and paste your quotations into your paper where you need them and you will have the source and page numbers right at hand for your in-text citations..

Write 5 or 6 topic limiting questions that pertain to your topic. Keep revising the questions until each one seems clearly phrased and worded. Find the best question of the group (or perhaps try to combine 2 questions that are related) and attempt to answer the question in one clear statement. Note: English 1010 & 1110 students: see Ex. 27-30; English 1020, see Ex. 3).

The clear statement that answers your topic limiting question will be the working thesis for your paper. Revise your statement until it is worded just right, and be prepared to change or modify it several times during the writing process.

I like to draft several working titles for the paper as early as possible. Work on an appro0priate title whenever you are inclined or when your have an inspiration.

Go through your research and make a scratch outline of the primary points of your argument and evidence. List your limited questions, your working thesis, all Major Premises, Facts, Claims, and Assumptions, and your Conclusion.

English 1020 Students: you must use the 7-poart essay structure for your paper: (1) Intro. and Thesis; (2) the So-What; (3) Statement(s) of Fact; (4) Body of Evidence for your argument; (5) Refutation; (6) Emotional Appeal; (7) Conclusion.

Review and re-read the highlighted portion of each resource text and attempt to write a paraphrased version of each important point or section of the source material. Group material related to the same idea and combine them into the same paragraphs as necessary.

After you go through all of your sources and write out sample rough-draft paragraphs, you can begin to assemble your paragraphs in a logical order per your scratch outline. Note: Be sure to start each paragraph with a strong, clear topic sentence.

Create a rough draft of your paper my pasting or typing in the various paragraphs into a continuous word document. Be sure to save the document to a disk and your hard drive. Print out a working draft for further revision.

Once you have the rough draft paragraphs in the most logical order, fill in the holes of your draft by adding more material as needed and transition sentences. (Note: Depending upon the length of your paper, for a 6-8 page paper, this step in the process usually takes about 3 drafts until you get all the paragraphs and transitions in the best possible order. The longer the paper, the more drafts it takes. But the better your outline and first draft are, the easier it is to arrange your paragraphs.)

You should complete and continuously update and correct your MLA bibliography (your Works Cited for the paper) as you go along. Don’t just save it all for the end.

English 1010 and 1110 students: You must also include some references to at least one approach to literary critical theory within your paper discussion, such as: biographical, historical, sociological, gender or feminist criticism, structuralism, formalism, etc.